The life of an actor is often far from glamorous – but nothing seems to bring that fact into focus quite so clearly as hearing that the celebrated Australian actor Vince Colosimo has to work as a labourer on building sites to make ends meet.

The AFI award-winning actor, who starred in the television series Underbelly and the films Chopper and Lantana, appeared in Melbourne magistrates court on two counts of driving on a suspended licence, as first reported in the Herald Sun.

Colosimo’s lawyer, Patrick Dwyer, told the court: “Acting life is not highly remunerative. He sands, he paints, he cleans building sites in between acting roles.”

The actor drives a black Saab and had his licence suspended after several speeding fines. The 48-year-old was eventually fined $1,000 without conviction and banned from driving for another 14 days. He has four months to pay the fine.

Colosimo may be suffering more significant cash-flow problems than other actors with a similar profile. In October 2013 he faced bankruptcy proceedings after the law firm Dandanis & Associates said he owed them $36,042. The firm dropped the case several months later.

This followed a 2008 legal battle involving his former partner, the actor Jane Hall, and their $890,000 Melbourne home. Colosimo has an 11-year-old daughter with Hall and a seven-month-old baby with his current girlfriend, Diana Glenn.

Colosimo has seen his fair share of courtrooms and police dramas on set, playing Chief Superintendent Jack Rizzoli in the ABC drama Janet King. He featured in the Channel Nine telemovie Schapelle as the Corby family lawyer Robin Tampoe. But his most famous role came in 2008 in Underbelly as the Melbourne underworld crime figure Alphonse Gangitano.

Colosimo has been contacted for comment through his agent, RGM Artists.